hi readers.
"I don't remember." replied Parnasse.
Ponine had to hold in chuckle at the resemblance of the conversation she had with Maman years earlier. "Well let's go then." They were careful to go in the opposite direction of les Amis de l'ABCs and Cosette.
"So Ponine..." Montparnasse stopped at the pain shown on her face. "What's wrong? Come on, you know you can tell me anything."
"It's just that, well, no one besides Maman, Zelma and Roche call me by my name. Everyone calls me Belle now."
"If no one refers to you as Éponine besides your immediate family, then who called for you a few minutes ago on the main road?" replied a confused Montparnasse.
Now Éponine had to think. What could she reveal now, that would get away from here so she could tell him everything later but keep the les Amis de l'ABCs at bay? She could confess it was Marius and Parnasse would be okay with that, but she didn't think it could keep Marius from coming out of the shadows. No she had to tell Parnasse that it was Marius, but quickly explain why he had to call for her, meaning she had to explain the whole reason why she left. With any luck, what She will reveal will cause les Amis de l'ABCs to think about what Ponine said instead of confronting her.
"It was Marius." said Ponine in a small voice. After she had taken a few moments to think she then continued, "Remember when I left?" Parnasse replied with a nod. "Well I didn't exactly tell them that I was leaving."
"What!" said a very shocked Montparnasse, "you said that they knew where you were going and didn't care!"
"Well I told you that so you wouldn't go and find them. I actually left because I knew I was the reason why they hadn't died. They took me to safety and in return they lived."
Montparnasse was truly now 100% confused. "But that's a good thing isn't it? They survived the barricade."
"The whole point of the barricade was to make sure the crown knew we were against them and to show the world that it wasn't just the unfortunate who wanted a change, but even rich young boys. Vive la république et vive la France." Ponine took a deep breath knowing where the conversation was about to go.
"I still don't understand why you left."
Ponine now had to disguise her feelings properly, but Parnasse was one of the two people in the world, Maman being the other, who could easily pick out when she was deceiving. Well she was not fully lying, she was just leaving out her feelings on the subject.
"Did you see them after the battle?" Montparnasse shook his head no. Ponine lowered her head some and continued "Well I don't remember exactly how, but I had woken up from death and Joly found me. Soon after I blacked out and I found myself at Cosette's house." Éponine took a deep breath.
"She was so kind to me and I have no idea why. Even though I wasn't cruel like my parents were to her when we were young, I was still mean at times, but yet here she was still gracious and understanding. I was okay for awhile. Cosette would bring me books to read and she would brush my hair. I would look at the stars and dream maybe things would get better. Eventually when Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Enjolras and Marius' injuries were healed I thought they would come and visit me, but they didn't. I thought 'well maybe they're just tired and resting or maybe hiding from the police. After a few weeks Joly said I could go anywhere within the house so I had started to roam the gardens. A few days later I was in the gardens and I had overheard a conversation. It was Enjolras and Marius, and they were just outside the gate. I started running towards them but I just stopped. They were speaking about me. I came closer so they could not see me, but I could see them. They weren't the smiles I was accustomed to when they had been talking about me just a few short weeks ago, but instead their faces were plastered with looks of hate and disgust."
"Why would they have a such a look about them when you all were so close?"
Éponine raised her head, tears evident in her eyes before she brushed them away with her hand. "They were talking about how they should have died at the barricade, how it was my fault that they hadn't died and it was true. I couldn't stand being at Cosette's house anymore. Realizing the reason my friends hadn't come to see me was not because they were tired, but because they were sick at the sight of me. At the last visit when Joly said I could leave the house, but not to go too far, I left. I didn't say goodbye, I left all of the dresses Cosette had given me and I was going to go crawl back to my father, that's when Maman found me."
No one said anything for awhile. "Do you miss them?" asked Montparnasse.
"Most times I do, other's I get extraordinarily angry at them. I didn't ask for them to save me. Actually at that time I would have preferred to die. And why did 5 of them plus Roche have to save me? They spoke as if everything was my fault when really their own plan was flawed down to the last speech. They thought the people of the
slums would come and fight with them." Said Ponine harshly, "rich boys who would receive an amazing job right out of university. Do you know how many times I tried to explain that to them and do you know what they said? Nothing! They just spoke over me and acted like I wasn't even there. When I thought back, that's when I realized they didn't care for me. I was just some beggar." Ponine was so frustrated she completely forgot who was listening in on the conversation; she continued "I was just the girl who followed Marius around like a lost puppy. How could I have been so stupid to love him?"
"Éponine, look at me," Parnasse said firmly with his hands on her shoulders. "Come on, look at me."
Eventually she raised her eyes to Montparnasse. "You are not stupid at all. If anyone was stupid it was him. How could he just look over you, how could any of them? You have a heart of gold, Éponine, and all of them do not deserve you. You are rightfully better than them."
"No I'm not."
"Yes you are." said Montparnasse as if it were final. "All you did was try to help them. Why should you have helped them? You went out of your way to help every single one of them. You delivered letters to Cosette from Marius even though it killed you inside every time, you let Enjolras practice his speeches with you, you found patients Joly could fix up for practice, you helped Combeferre out with woman for heaven's sake! Only god knows how hard that was! Ponine, you would have been better off without them, but yet you still helped them. You truly are an amazing person, and no one, not even les Amis de l'ABCs can take that away from you."
I'm back! sorry for the delay!
anyways HUGE thanks to my beta A Love Poet at Heart
and review!
please&thanks
XxAccioNevilleLongbottomxX
